Advanced Communication
by Fidges
Summary: They had only signed up for the class because it was required. NejiSakuShika.


_I do not own Naruto or the characters. _

Sakura smiled, lifting her arms above her head delicately in a cat-like stretch, hearing the joints in her shoulders pop. The sun shone with a bright sincerity, welcoming the new students to their first day of the new semester at Konoha University. The campus was littered with anxious new faces, collegiate students bustling through the campus green to attend their first class of the year.

The pink-haired girl took her time getting to class; the sun was warming her skin in a way so delightful she'd be mad to pass it up. Her nervousness about her first day of school as a recently transferred junior flittered carefully in her stomach, but was overwhelmed by the taste of excitement this new environment brought her. It was such a beautiful campus and with this gorgeous weather the newness of the situation lifted her senses.

When she arrived at room A105 she stopped and stood in the sun for a couple moments, contemplating tugging on the brass door handle, not knowing whether the door would be open or not. She was fifteen minutes early and at the community college she'd attended before this, teachers were never in their classrooms this early. She pulled out an overly-creased piece of paper and unfolded it, nervously double-checking her schedule. A105, 10:20am, Advanced Communication Studies. She glanced at her watch, noting the 10:03, and then glanced at the door again.

She glanced around; no one seemed to be looking at her. Sakura took this opportunity to swallow her nervousness, approach the door, and tug it once. She was mildly surprised when it opened, but acted as if she expected it and walked in, letting her viridian eyes wander over the polished classroom. Light filtered in through the high-set windows and onto the clean but fading wood of the desks. Sakura noted the two other people in the classroom. Towards the back row she saw a dark-brown haired boy slouched over his desk. His head rested in crossed arms all that was visible of his form was some jeans, a university sweatshirt, and a ponytail of thick, spiky hair.

Sakura was vaguely surprised with this first impression, Konoha University was a prestigious academy, ranked highly as one of the nation's top schools, and this was one of her classmates?

Brushing off this odd first impression, her eyes landed on the other figure, who looked much more at place in this school. He had an air of superiority clouded around him, his back straight against his seat in the second row, iPad rested against his desk. He had beautiful long brown hair, framed perfect around his aristocratic face and was dressed in what seemed to be all brand names. His eyes were watching the screen below him, fingers tapping and sliding against the touch screen of his phone. Obviously he had money, and quite possibly a stick lodged up somewhere, by the looks of things. Sakura had to admit, this student was a little more like the type she was expecting.

Done with her assessment, she then perused the classroom for the perfect seat. One near the window, preferably not near the back, but not the front either. She walked down the aisle closest to the window, quickly deciding on taking the third seat instead of the fourth. With five rows, she couldn't go wrong choosing one right in the middle.

She set down her messenger bag quietly, wary of disturbing either of the other students, before letting the anticipation slowly trickle back into her stomach. She checked her watch, dismayed that it displayed the same time it did when she checked it last, and contemplated what to do. Checking her email was a nice safe bet, requiring minimal noise and social interaction. She pulled out her smart-phone and just as she tapped the email icon she heard a jingle of keys and the door was pushed open again. Glancing up from an email from her best friend from high school, she watched a tall silver-haired man enter the room, a briefcase in one hand and keys in the other. He set the case behind the Professor's desk in the front corner of the room, pushing it against the wall.

He then briskly moved to the front of the classroom, sat on the long desk, and clapped.

Sakura cocked her head to the side, glancing at the other two students. The aristocratic boy moved his eyes from his iPad to the man at the front, coking an eyebrow at the show. This was the first time Sakura has seen his eyes, and was shocked at the paleness. The sleeping boy stirred, moving his head slightly, so his chin rested against his forearms instead, lazy brown eyes fixed on the teacher.

"Hello class!" The strange man said, face a picture of cheerfulness. "I see we have the wonder trio formed already. And it looks as if a Hyuuga is among us," He glanced toward the boy at the front, an amused smile on his face. "What a pleasant surprise."

Sakura cocked her head to the side in confusion, the lazy boy raised his eyebrows lightly, and the boy in the front kept his eyebrow raised and his features impassive, waiting for an explanation.

Seeing their confused faces, the man began to explain, still smiling. "Studies show that the people earlier to class than the rest tend to generally get the highest grades. I believe that these studies do hold some merit, especially when academic expectance backs them up. So," He beamed, "You three will now make up my wonder trio."

The boy at the front fixed him with a look that said something along the lines of 'obviously' and 'so what' as he considered going back to what he was doing on his iPad. Sakura glanced around at the other two, thoroughly confused and now a little more nervous. Before she could begin to ponder the various expectations that the teacher had placed on her shoulders, the lazy boy drawled out a question.

"And what exactly does that mean to us Professor?"

The silver-haired man smiled, eyes crinkling. "Well, for starters you get to clean the board. It is looking quite well-used this morning." He motioned to the spray bottle and paper towels by his desk and smiled, walking towards the door, keys in hand. "I'll be right back."

And just as fluidly as he had entered, the silver-haired man exited the room, leaving a wake of settling silence.

Sakura glanced at the other two, watching the silver-eyed boy return to whatever he was doing on the iPad, completely unruffled. The lazy boy stared uninterested at the board before closing his eyes again. She nervously twiddled her fingers, unsure as to whether the Professor was joking or not. Neither of the other two seemed to be taking his request seriously, but it seemed like he meant it.

"Uh…" Sakura started, earning her a look from both males. "Should we clean it then?"

The boy at the front snorted, eyes not leaving his iPad, while the previously sleeping boy looked at her as if he had just noticed she was there. He observed her casually for a couple moments before shrugging in response.

Sakura glanced between the two, unimpressed with their unhelpfulness. Not wanting to fail her Professor on the first day she stood up, making her way to the board. They could be uncooperative all they wanted, but Sakura wasn't willing to take that risk. For all the money she was spending on this class alone, cleaning a board was nothing. She didn't want to spend all this money only to disregard a professor's request on the first day.

She grabbed the spray bottle from the desk, spraying it on the board and grabbing a handful of paper towels, and started to clean the board. The next few moments were spent in silence before the door was thrust open by a red-haired girl and her counterpart. They moved to the second row, the red-head seating herself beside the white-eyed boy with a coy smile.

She turned to him, smiling. "You're here early Neji."

"Hm." He agreed non-committed, absorbed in what he was doing.

The red-head let out a sickeningly sweet giggle. "No wonder you're such an amazing student. You should tutor me sometime. I could use help from someone smart like you."

"I'm very busy, sorry. " He said coldly, consumed with things other than conversing, wanting to finish the exchange quickly.

The redhead stuck her lip out in an exaggerated pout. "Oh, I understand. That's fine." She said sweetly, turning her attention elsewhere.

Sakura frowned when she felt a pair of eyes land on her, waiting for the comment that was sure to come.

"Hey, kiss-ass up there."

The pink-haired girl turned around, cocking her head slightly. She really didn't want to talk to this girl; she practically emanated waves of bitchiness. "Me?"

"Yeah you, _kiss-ass_. Cleaning the teacher's board, what are you, some cleaner?"

Sakura raised her eyebrows, vaguely amused. "If I told you I was a custodian, would you stop talking to me?" Normally she didn't go out of her way to make enemies with people, but she did not take shit lying down, and this girl was pushing it.

Said girl bristled. "Obviously you do not know who the fuck you're talking to-"

Before she could finish however, the door opened and a few more students began filtering, consumed in loud conversations of their own. Sakura took this opportune distraction to finish wiping the board and slid back into her seat by the window. She pulled out her phone, glancing over to note that the redhead had returned to conversing with her friend about various popular shows Sakura knew nothing about. Watching as the rest of the class filtered in slowly, Sakura went to check her email again, opening up the message from her good friend.

_Hey Forehead,_

_Good luck on your first day at your big expensive prestigious college thing. Text me and keep me updated on interesting things, k? I don't want to hear about things your teach said, tell me about the guys! Meet some cute ones or next time I come up there I will set you up on as many blind dates as humanly possible, and you know you hate that. Don't let me down girl! _

_Kisses and hugs!_

_Your Gorgeous friend Ino_

Sakura smiled despite herself. Ino was ridiculous. She wasn't paying this exorbitant tuition just to meet guys; all men ever seemed to do was get in the way of her academic pursuits.

She glanced at the time on her phone; 10:18. She didn't have time to respond to Ino, so she slipped her phone into a pocket in her messenger bag and pulled out a notepad and pen, grudgingly noting all the expensive laptops surrounding her. Her laptop didn't actually fit in her messenger bag, it was quite huge and Sakura preferred not to have to lug it about. However, if a class required a laptop, she had one to bring, and that was good enough. She noted a couple other people had notepads and pens out instead of laptops, but a large percentage of the class had tablets and laptops pulled out to take their notes on.

10:20 struck a couple minutes later and Sakura glanced around the room. The loud conversations had simmered down to a few murmurings between people who still needed to catch up with their friends about their summer and some TV shows. The problem with entering as a Junior was that she didn't actually know anyone. Most of her class had already formed relationships with each other, bonds were set, groups were formed. Freshman awkwardness had come and gone; now all that was left was people who had decided to take classes in pairs, with a sprinkle of the odd one out here and there. Advanced Communications spanned over a wide expanse of Majors, therefore she expected this to be her most diverse class. All of her other classes were much smaller and psychology-based; therefore if she wanted to meet people, this would be the class to do it.

Granted, she liked to get one person's phone number from every class, in case of emergency. Unfortunately, no one in the class seemed all too friendly or receptive. She sighed, resting her chin in her hands. Oh well.

Sakura spent the next couple minutes idly listening to a conversation beside her about a movie that had just come out. Something about vampires falling in love. She rubbed her temple, glancing at her watch again. The teacher was now officially late. Which didn't make too much sense, seen as he was here only ten minutes ago. Sakura sighed, beginning to doodle on her notepad while still idly eavesdropping on the conversations around her.

"I heard he's always late."

"Yeah, I heard that too, but this class is supposed to be one of the easier ones, right?"

"I guess…"

"I'm just enjoying the eye-candy. One day you can call me Mrs. Hyuuga."

"I heard he was gay."

"Don't ruin my fantasy!"

The group of girls had collapsed into giggles, and the aforementioned Hyuuga paid them no mind. Sakura sighed and pulled out her phone again. She guessed now was as good a time as ever, seen as the teacher was already 4 minutes late. She smiled as she rolled over Ino's message again, hitting reply and tilting her phone to pull out her keyboard.

_Hi Pig,_

_Thanks for the well-wishes, but nothing really interesting ever happens to me, you know that. You're the one who's the exciting jet-setting model with the millionaire boyfriend. And what if my teacher says interesting things? I'll have you know that not all professors are boring! And you know how I feel about those blind dates… please spare me, they're so awkward…_

_Have mercy on me,_

_Sakura_

She allowed herself another secret smile as she hit the send button, and then returned her phone to its designated pocket in her messenger bag. She focused her attention back on the blank page before her and began to draw a sheep. Before it had a tail however, the door opened and the teacher sauntered back in. Sakura checked the clock. He was 12 minutes late.

One obnoxious student in the front pointed that out. "You're late!"

The teacher just smiled, his one visible eye crinkling into a little arch. "Sorry class. There was a long line at the coffee stand."

And before anyone could point out he wasn't holding coffee, he coughed and turned to the board, where he wrote Kakashi Hatake, Room A105, Advanced Communication. He instructed anyone who had the wrong class to leave and called attendance. The next 15 minutes passed by in a blur, adding some waitlisted students and dropping others who didn't show up. Finally, after all was said and done, he clapped his hands together and smiled.

"Okay class, groups of four!"

Shit. Sakura sat rooted in her seat as she watched the four girls behind her group up, and some pairs group up, and some awkward people meander around and join groups of three. Grouping up was always so awkward.

She watched the red-headed girl, Karin or something like that, pester the Hyuuga. He sat fixed to the seat, a stick lodged somewhere very far up there. He looked like he despised the idea of groups as much as she did. But Karin was unrelenting. She sat beside the Hyuuga, a syrupy intone begging him to join their group. Flattery, pity, nothing seemed to work on this guy. He was completely uninterested. The commotion caused Kakashi to come over. He could see Neji's distress but smiled anyway.

"Neji, grouping up strengthens your bonds within the class and helps you achieve."

Neji spared him a withering glance as Karin agreed furiously.

"But you're group was decided already. Karin, why don't you and your group get another member? Neji is already in a group."

Neji almost sighed in relief but instead raised one eyebrow and gave the professor a questioning look. Kakashi smiled and moved over to a small group of two in the back, whereas Karin, confused and upset, followed him. He arrived at the small group of two boys, one very lethargic individual by the name Shikamaru, and another who persistently insisted on pairing up with the genius.

Shikamaru seemed like he didn't care either way, and when Kakashi approached him an reminded him he had already been assigned to a group, the lazy boy regarded him for a moment before remarking very intelligently "oh yeah" and looking out the window again. Kakashi turned to deal with the irritated redhead behind him as Sakura pondered. Was the group he was referring to his so-called "wonder trio"? She hadn't thought he was being serious about that, but now she realized that he meant it, she gathered her notebook and messenger bag and moved to sit next to Neji.

When she plopped ungracefully into the seat beside him, he spared her a bored glance.

"Apparently Professor Hatake was serious about the wonder trio thing." She offered up as an explanation and smiled sweetly, extending her hand. "I'm Sakura."

The white-eyed boy regarded her hand for a moment before turning back to his iPad. He seemed uninterested and apparently had no intention of making this pleasant. She pursed her lips at the rude rejection before shaking her head and looking over at the lazy boy in the back. He was looking out the window, totally unaware of her. So she rolled her eyes and stood up, earning another furtive glance from Neji, and walked over to him.

"Hey." She said, smiling and offering her hand, just like with Neji. "I'm Sakura, and I'm pretty sure the Professor was referring to the so called 'wonder trio' he formed earlier."

The lazy boy regarded her for a moment and then awkwardly shook her hand. "Shikamaru. I think you're probably right."

She threw a thumb back at Neji. "So would you like to come sit with us? I don't dare ask the ice queen to move."

Shikamaru allowed a slight smile back before he nodded and followed her to the cluster of desks Karin and Co. had formerly occupied. He plunked down in a desk next to Sakura, lazily setting his laptop before him as Sakura dropped down into her desk between the two. Shikamaru leaned down towards the desk, and threw a lazy salute at Neji. "Yo."

Neji glanced his direction before going back to whatever he was doing. Shikamaru mumbled, "What pleasant company" and began typing away at his laptop. Sakura sighed and waited for the teacher to return to the front of the class.

When he did, she instantly regretted it.

"Well class, these are your families until the end of the Semester, so let's get to know each other, hm?"


End file.
